Cases



R. S' MORRIS Aug. 28, 1962 CASES Filed Jan. 26, 1961 IN VEN TOE ROBERT 5. MORE/S Patented Aug-28, 1962 3,05i,130 CASES Robert S. Morris, Dudley, Mass, assignor to American Optical Company, Southhridge, Mass, a voluntary association of Massachusetts 7 Filed Jan, 26, 1961, Ser. No. 85,124 2 laims. (Cl. 150-28) This invention relates to improvements in cases and more particularly to cases of the pocket-size variety which are attachable to ones apparel or to other objects for supporting and protecting means carried thereby which would otherwise be subject to loss or damage.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a carrying case of the above character which is attractive, lightweight, simple and economical to manufacture and non-injurious to clothing or other articles when attached thereto.

Another object is to provide a case of the above character embodying a permanent magnet and means responsive to said magnet formed as an integral part thereof for attaching said case to means for supporting the same.

Another object is to provide a carrying case'having a main container or body portion formed with a metallic reinforcing part concealed by flexible non-metallic covering means which has a part in the form of a flap extending from said body portion and which has a permanent magnet concealed and supported therein adjacent its terminal end wherein said flap is adapted to form closure and/or supporting means for said case with said magnet being attachable to said body part or other metallic objects.

Another object is to provide a structure of the above character wherein said permanent magnet, being inherently attachable to the metallic part of said case or other metallic objects will provide means for detachably securing said flap in overlapping relation with the open end of said body portion of said case and/or to means intended to support the case in a desired position of use.

Another object is to provide, by the use of said permanent magnet and the arrangement of said flap on said carrying case, novel gripping means by which said case can be quickly and easily fastened to or'detached from articles of clothing or to other objects without, in any .way, subjecting either the carrying case or the objects to damage.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the device embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the device;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken approximately along line 33 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a partially broken-away plan view of the device prior to its being formed by bending to its ultimate shape;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views of the device of the invention illustrating different proposed adaptations of said device; and

FIG. 7 is a side elevation view of the device illustrated in another position of use.

Referring more particularly to the drawings wherein like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views, the invention relates to a carrying case 10 having a body part 12 formed of a relatively thin reinforcing member 14 (see FIG. 3) of metallic sheet stock which is interposed between two pieces 16 and 16 of flexible covering material. The pieces of covering material 16 and 16 are extended outwardly in superimposed relation with each other beyond the reinforcing member 14 from one side of the body part 12 and are so shaped as to form an elongated flap '18 of a width approximately equal to the width of the body part 12. The reinforcing member 14 is initially formed of flat stock such as cold rolled steel which is cut to the shape required to form the configuration of the front, back,

bottom and sides of the body part 12. In a similar manner, the pieces of covering material 16 and 16 which may be made of leather, plastic, fabric or any suitable similarly characterized preferably limp material are cut to identical shapes from flat stock and to substantially the same contour as that of the member 14 with an allowance for overlapping the member 14 when superimposed thereupon and further with a portion extended from one end thereof shaped to form the flap 18. Within the flap 18 which is unsupported by the reinforcing member 14- and is flexible in nature, there is placed a rectangularly-shaped permanent magnet 23 (see FIG. 3).

The assembly of the above-mentioned parts of the case it) is initially made flat in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4- wherein the cover pieces 16 and 16' are placed'upon the reinforcing member 14, one at each side thereof in superimposed relation with each other. With the interposed member 14 centered between the cover pieces 16 and 16' as shown, the permanent magnet 20 is placed between the said pieces adjacent the respective terminal ends 22 and 22" of the flap 18 as shown in FIG. 4 and the edge portions of the cover pieces 16 and 16' which overlap the reinforcing member 14 and magnet'Zti are secured together by stitchings 24 which run peripherally around the entire edge of the assembly and also, in a second row 24' across the end of the flap 18 adjacent the magnet 26 to pocket the magnet 20 (as shown in FIGS,

3 and 4) between the cover pieces 16 and 16 adjacent the terminal end of the flap 1%. It is pointed out that the securing-together of the edges of the cover pieces may be accomplished with a cement or glue in lieu of the stitchings 24 or by the commonly known heat-sealing technique when the cover members 16 and 16' are formed of heat scalable plastics or like materials. This latter edge-sealing technique is preferred wherever possible.

After the assembly has been completed to this point, the case is formed to its final shape by bending wherein the reinforcing member 14, being of a relatively rigid nature, will permanently support the covering pieces 16 and'16' throughout the body part 12 of the case in such manner as to render said body part box-like in shape thereby providing a container portion or area 26 (see FIGS. 3 and 5) in which articles such as packaged cigarettes or the like may be placed ,and protected from abuse.

In forming the case It the assembly shown in FIG. 4 is bent along the dot-dash lines 23, 29, 3t 31, 32 and 33. All of the bends along said lines are substantially rightangular and with the cover piece 16' being intended to provide the inner lining of the case 10, the bends along lines 28-33 are made as follows:

The tab-like parts 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the initially flat assembly in FIG. 8 are bent upwardly to ultimately form the sides 38 (FIGS. 2 and 3) of thecase 10. Next, a right-angular bend is made upwardly along line and the assembly is again bent rrght-angularly back toward itself along line 31. The area between the lines 30 and i 31 then becomes the bottom 40 of the case 10 and the remaining portions of the assembly at opposite sides of said area or bottom 40 become the front 42 and back 44 of the case 14).

Extending from the back 44 of the resultant case is the flap lii which is unsupported by the reinforcing member 14 and is, therefore, limp and flexible in nature. The flap 18, having the permanent magnet 20 secured therein adjacent its terminal end, functions, in one aspect of the invention, as a cover for the upper open end of the body part 12 of the case when extended thereover as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and the magnet 20 being inherently attracted to the steel reinforcing member 14 provides securing means for holding the flap 18 detachably in place. The natural flux of the magnet in passing through the non-metallic coverings 16 and 16 draws the flap 13 securely against the body part 12 of the case to, in effect, removably fasten the flap 18 thereto in a desired position of use. 1

It is pointed out that the magnet 20 being similarly attracted to metallic objects other than the reinforcing member or part 14 of the case may be used to attach the case to metallic objects such as automobile dashboards or the like either with the flap 18 closed, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, or with the flap opened as will be described.

. Attachment of the case too. metallic object is accomplished simply by placing the area of the flap 18 which contains the magnet 20 against said object.

In FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, there has been shown, for purposes of illustration, a few of many difierent adaptations of the case 10. For example, if itis desired to suspend the case from an object 46 (FIG. 5) such as the belt of ones apparel, the flap 18 is simply looped over the belt 46 and attached to the front of the case body as shown. Alternatively, if it is desired to leave the inner area 26 of the case open at the top, as shown in FIG. 7, the flap 18 is reversed and passed from front to back over the 'belt 45' and attached to the back 44 of the case by means of the magnet 20. Furthermore, if it is desired to suspend the case from a metallic object 48 such as the dash of an automobile, the flap 18 is extended as shown by the phantom dot-dash outline in FIG. 7 and attached by means of its magnet to the object 48.

When the case is used to carry cigarettes or the like i in the pocket 50 of ones apparel 52, as shown in FIG. 6, the case 10 is slipped into the pocket 50 initially with its flaplfi open and the flap is thereafter brought down and over the front of the pocket to close the top of the case.

In placing the end of the flap containing the magnet 2t} against the front of the pocket 50, its attraction through the material of the pocket 50 and cover members 16 and 16' to the metallic member 14 in the case will cause the flap to firmly grip the pocket 50 holding the closed case 10 tightly in place. Thus, it can be seen that the case itself is prevented from becoming dislodged in the pocket 50 and articles carried in the case 10 are, at the same time, prevented by the flap '18 from slipping out of the case 10 when, for example, the pocket 50 might become inverted or partially so by bending or other actions of the person.

It is pointed out that the magnetic. fastening means of this invention provides an eflicient, simple, inexpensive and unfailing arrangement for efieoting a secured closure of the case 10 and/or for attaching the case to articles intended to support the same without incurring damage in any form to the receiving articles. Snap fasteners, buttons or other forms of grippers which have been used previous to this invention have been subject to malfunction and the various spring clips or clasps commonly used for fastening cases or the like to clothing or other objects have been damaging to the clothing and/or Objects. Furthermore, such clasps or spring clips tend to lose their gripping elfect after relatively short periods of use as a result of becoming bent or otherwise disfigured. The magnetic fastening arrangement of this invention provides a trouble-free, long lasting and secure gripping 4 V arrangement rendering the case 10 universally adaptable to a wide variety of uses heretofore impossible to achieve conventionally.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that simple, efficient and economical means has been provided for accomplishing all of the objects and advantages of the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims; The invention is not to be limited to the exact details of construction and arrangement of parts shown and described as the preferred embodiment only has been given by way of illustration.

Having described my invention, I claim:

l. A case of the character described comprising a rigid open ended box-shaped main body part having a front,

back, opposite sidesand a bottom formed of a single folded piece of sheet metal of the type which will respond to magnetic force, inner and outer coverings of relatively limp non-magnetic sheet material disposed over the respective inner and outer sides of said main body part each extended in superimposed relation with the other continuously away from saidback of said main body part adjacent the open end thereof to form a relatively limp flap adapted to overlap said open end of said main body part and the greater portion of the front of said main body part, a permanent magnet disposed between said inner and outer coverings adjacent the terminal end of said flap, said coverings being secured together about the respective peripheral edges of said flap, and along a line transversely thereof adjacent the side of said magnet opposite to said terminal end of said flap to pocket said magnet between said coverings whereby said terminal end of said flap may be magnetically'attached to any and all parts of said main body'part of said case within the reach of said flap. I

2. A case of the character described comprising a rigid open ended box-shaped main body part, having a front, back, opposite sides and a bottom formed of a single folded piece of sheet metal of the type which will respond to magnetic force, inner and outer coverings of relatively limp non-magnetic sheet material disposed over the respective inner and outer sides of said main body part in overlapping relation with alledges of said piece of sheet metal, said inner and outer coverings being joined together adjacent said edges of said piece of sheet metal and each extended in superimposed'relation. with the other continuously away from said back of said main body part adjacent the open end thereof to form a relatively limp flap adapted to overlap said open end of said main body part and the greater portion of the front of said main body part, a permanent magnet disposed between said inner and outer coverings adjacent the terminal end of said flap, said coverings being secured together about the respective peripheral edges of said flap and along-a line transversely thereof adjacent the side of said magnet opposite to said terminal end of said flap to pocket said magnet between said coverings whereby said terminal end of said flap may be magnetically attached to any and all parts of said main body part of said case within the reach of said flap.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

